himself. But he was just a kid; I didn’t wanna work with him. The way shit worked was, since Black doesn’t like to drive, whenever he had a little job to do, he would call me and say “come scoop me up.”
Only this time when I get there, Black is nowhere to be found and Freeze gets in the car. “Let’s go.”
“Go where? Where’s Black?”
“Black wants me to go with you.”
“Why?”
“He didn’t say why. He just said when Nick gets here that I should go with you.”
I put the car in drive and pulled off. “Where to?”
“Spot off Boston Road.”
“Who we goin’ to see?”
“You know Harry Walker, right?” Freeze asked as I drove.
“Greasy?”
Yeah, I know his fat ass. He was a gambler who liked to bet on football, but Greasy had a string of bad luck. Lost a lot of money one Sunday then tried to bet his way out of it; as some gamblers are known to do. Now he owed one of our bookies a hundred grand.
We waited outside Greasy’s apartment building, waiting for him to come home for the night. Neither of us had much to say while we were waiting, just listened to the radio, and watched the door. I was thinkin’ about whether it was good idea for Black to send Freeze along with me. I didn’t think he was up to it.
It was after three in the morning when Greasy got to his apartment. He was in the company of a very pretty full-figured woman.
As soon as Freeze saw Greasy heading for the building, he was out the car. I gave him points for enthusiasm. I was anxious to see if he got any points for style and more importantly, effectiveness.
By the time Greasy wobbled to the door and got his keys out, Freeze was on him. He put his gun to the back of Greasy’s head. “What the fuck!” I heard Greasy say when I finally got to the door.
“Unlock the door and go inside,” Freeze ordered the big man.
“What the fuck is goin’ on?”
“Black sent me.”
“Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m the nigga that’s gonna shoot you and the titty bitch here if you don’t unlock the fuckin’ door.”
Greasy unlocked the door and we went inside. Freeze told the woman to sit down and be quiet, while he backed Greasy up to the wall at gunpoint. It was only then that Greasy recognized me. “Nick? That you, Nick?”
“What’s up, Greasy?” I said and took a seat next to his big tittie companion.
And they were pretty titties too.
I put my gun on my lap and she smiled at me. She looked like the sight of my gun and all that was going on was exciting her. Maybe she was just hoping that those big-ass titties would allow her to walk out with her life. Truth was she had nothing to worry about. At least I didn’t think so. Freeze never said if Black wanted them dead or not, but I knew Black didn’t like killing women.
“Who the fuck is this kid, Nick?” Greasy asked and Freeze punched him in his stomach for asking. He doubled over in pain.
“I already told you who I am,” Freeze said calmly. “I’m the nigga who’s gonna put a bullet in your head if you don’t do what I tell you, which means you don’t talk unless I tell you to.” Freeze hit him in the stomach again. “Understand?” And then he hit him in the stomach again. This time Greasy went down to one knee. Those shots to the gut had taken all the wind out of him.
“Okay, okay,” Greasy said, sucking air, trying to catch his breath.
At that point I knew Greasy wasn’t gonna be any trouble, at least not that night. I was impressed with the way Freeze had taken control of the situation, just like Black would have.
What I didn’t know, and didn’t find out until much later, was that Freeze had been rollin’ with Black. Freeze had learned his craft directly from Mike Black. Like I said, Black doesn’t like to drive, and at the time, Freeze didn’t know how to drive, so they would take the train. Picture that; they do what they gotta do, and then walk calmly back to the train station and go back uptown.
It only took a few more shots to the gut before Greasy went on and handed Freeze twenty large, and promised to have the rest in three days. “Three days, big boy, no more,” Freeze threatened and we left.
After that night, Freeze and I got tight, as close as brothers. He saved my life and I saved his. When I was accused of murder and needed somebody to ride with me to settle things, Freeze was right there. Ride or die, just like it always had been, even though he hadn’t seen me in ten years. Now he was gone and it was my fault; my fault because I was careless.
Chapter 4
I looked over at Wanda. She had curled into the fetal position and had drifted off to sleep. I guess she woke up when I got out of bed and walked to the window.
“You all right?” Wanda asked and sat up in the bed.
“I’m good,” I said without looking back at her.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Wanda got out of the bed, wrapped the sheet around her body, and joined me at the window. She put her arms around my waist and I put my arm around her.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining, really I’m not. But you weren’t there a while ago.”
“I’m sorry.” And I was. “I’ll do better next time.” And I will.
“It’s not that it wasn’t good. Lord knows it was. It just would have been better if you were in it with me.”
“I thought I was all up in it.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I know.”
“You gotta let it go, baby.”
“I know.”
“You want me to call around, find somebody for you to talk to about it?”
“What do you mean, like a shrink?”
“Yes.”
“No. I ain’t crazy. And I don’t need no fuckin’ shrink,” I said louder than I needed to and felt bad after I said it.
Wanda let me go and walked away. She went in the bathroom and slammed the door. Even though I didn’t really want to, I went in after her. She had turned on the water and was about to take a shower.
“Look, Wanda, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I know you’re just trying to help.”
Wanda turned around quickly. “Then let me help you, Nick, please. Talk to me. Don’t shut me out like this. Let me in. Tell me what you’re feeling. I know you’re mad, I know you’re hurting. It might make you feel better if you let it out instead of keeping all that rage bottled up inside you.”
“I just need something to do; something to occupy my time and my mind.”
Freeze dying changed a lot of things. Black was back, set up at Cuisine, the supper club he opened years ago, and he’s running things from there. He had been staying out in Rockland County with Bobby. He moved out there after his wife, Pam, had a nervous breakdown. Now he was back running Impressions, the dance club that I had been running. That left me with nothing to do.
Black told me that I could do anything I wanted to in either side of the business. Naturally Wanda, who didn’t like me working at the club, wanted me to think about doing something on the legit side of the house, but I ain’t really feeling any of that shit. She’s been talking up me taking over the finance company. All of it seemed like major boring shit.
“Have you given any more thought to what you might want to do?”
